Julius Genachowski has announced plans to step down as chairman of US telecoms regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
He will leave in the coming weeks after four years at the agency. President Obama nominated Genachowski, a Democrat,…
Julius Genachowski has announced plans to step down as chairman of US telecoms regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
He will leave in the coming weeks after four years at the agency. President Obama nominated Genachowski, a Democrat, and he was subsequently confirmed by the Senate in 2009.
In a statement the outgoing chairman listed the regulator’s actions on spectrum and ensuring competition as some of the FCC’s key achievements under his stewardship.
“To unleash the enormous opportunities of mobile, we pioneered incentive auctions and other cutting-edge spectrum policies,” he said.
“To drive competition and empower consumers, we opposed and modified transactions where necessary, deployed technology to drive transparency, and took unprecedented enforcement actions.”
As one of his final acts Genachowski has written to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to suggest that spectrum in the 1695-1710 MHz band and the 1755-1780 MHz band should be auctioned in September 2014 for commercial use.
Commissioner Robert McDowell, a Republican, also announced he would step down this week, leaving two vacancies on the five person panel. Until US president Obama appoints replacements for the departing members, the committee will be left with three representatives only, one of them a Republican and the two other members Democrats.
